Former Mets Outfielder: Alex Escobar (2001)

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Alexander Jose Escobar was born on September 6th, 1978 in Carabobo, Venezuela. The six foot one right hand hitting outfielder was signed out of high school by the New York Mets in 1995.

  In 1996 he hit .360 in the Rookie League and then stole 49 bases batting .310 with 27 HRs at A ball Capital City two years later. As the Mets won the National League pennant in 2000 Escobar was showing promise as an outfielder of the future at AA ball, getting named to the Baseball America All Star team.

By 2001 he was at AAA Norfolk, hitting 12 HRs 52 RBIs & batting .267 and got a call up in the early part of the season. Escobar debuted on May 8th playing centerfield & batting seventh at Coors Field in Colorado. In the 6th inning he singled scoring Todd Pratt with his first hit & RBI. Escobar stayed on the roster until the end of June batting .216. He returned in September playing the first game after the September 11th attacks, in Pittsburgh appearing as a pinch runner.

On October 5th he had his biggest day as a Met, he hit a pair of HRs at Shea Stadium in a game against the Montreal Expos. He homered in the 7th inning off Mike Thurman & then hit a three run shot off Guillermo Mota in the next inning. The Mets came up short in the game 8-6 with Escobar driving in five of the runs. In 18 games in New York he batted .200 with 3 HRs & 8 RBIs.

At the end of the season he was involved in the Roberto Alomar deal going to Cleveland with Matt Lawton & Jerrod Riggan. He missed all of 2002 with a torn ACL & returned as reserve player in Cleveland the next two years.

In 2005 he was injured again missing another full season. In 2006 Escobar played in 33 games for the Washington Nationals batting .356 (31-87) with a .394 on base %, 4 HRs & 18 RBIs. In his four year career he batted .258 with 13 HRs 14 doubles a .328 on base % & 52 RBIs in 125 games. Escobar played eleven seasons in the minors batting .277 with 96 HRs & 387 RBIs finishing up in 2008.

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